Upper Douglas Cable Tramway

The Upper Douglas Cable Tramway was a tram line serving all points between the southern end of the promenade and the upper part of the town of Douglas in the Isle of Man.See Pearson, F. K., "Cable Tram Days", 1977 (Douglas Cable Car Group) (pictorial history of the tramway and the restoration efforts). It opened on 15 August 1896 and closed on 19 August 1929.Cable Car guy
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History

Douglas Corporation, the local authority is not responsible for the town, persuaded the Isle of Man Tramways & Electric Power Company to build a line serving the hilly area of Upper Douglas in return for an extended franchise to operate the horse tramway. The line was built to narrow gauge. Douglas Corporation acquired the tramway in 1902 after the collapse of Dumbell's Bank and the section south of the depot in York Road was closed as it was felt that the gradient made it too dangerous to operate.IOM.com
/ref> The service was downgraded to seasonal in 1922. After the line closed, the tracks remained in place until they were lifted in 1932. (in contradiction to this source however road works in the 1980s revealed some of the rails buried well under the modern road surface; in addition, in Waverley Road, on the depot entrance, a set of tramway rails and points remain; however, this may actually be from the time that the depot was used to service the horse trams: they were towed up to the depot using double decker buses). In January 2000, work in connection with the IRIS scheme unearthed the terminal cable pit at Broadway.
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Route

Both termini were on Douglas Promenade, at the Clock Tower and Broadway. The line followed a U-shaped route serving Victoria Street, Prospect Hill, Buck's Road, Woodbourne Road, York Road, Ballaquayle Road, and Broadway. There was a set of points connecting with the horse tramway at the Clock Tower. A proposed link to the horse tramway at Broadway was not built.

Tramcars

There were fifteen trams on the system.
/ref> Tram 72/73 is now based at the Jurby Transport Museum. After closure it is believed that a number of cars (including those which remain) were offered for sale and other uses, therefore the scrapping date is largely conjectural. The colour scheme is believed to have been that carried by the restored 72/73 today, being Prussian Blue panelling with cream panelling, lemon yellow detailing and brown/chocolate lettering; this distinctively included all major destinations of the route along the upper valence which has been accurately reproduced on the displayed car today. The three lowest numbered cars were later additions, the fleet numbering commenced at 70 upon opening to allow for possible expansion of the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway fleet which never occurred (the highest number horse car was in reality 50), later cars were allocated unused numbers thereafter.

Preserved Car

After the closure of the line, two of the cars, No.72 and No.73 were turned into a bungalow at Crawyn, Jurby. Both vehicles retained their bogies. and were parked side by side to create the floorspace, a brick built chimney installed between then. They had been built by G. F. Milnes in 1896. In late July 1968, these two vehicles were rescued by the ''Douglas Cable Car Group'', and a restoration was carried out between then and 1976, at York Road depot (former storage shed for the tramway, later used for buses and horse tram storage), using the best of both cars. The tram now bears the number 72 on one end and 73 on the other, it has been converted to work by battery power and was sometimes seen running on the horse tramway. It was later moved to the Jurby Transport Museum where it remains today on an isolated section of reproduction track together with smaller items from the system also on display.

Stamp

The Upper Douglas Cable Tramway featured on a 13p stamp issued by the Isle of Man Post Office in 1988.

References

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Railway lines in the Isle of Man
3 ft gauge railways in the Isle of Man
Tram transport in the Isle of Man